Simeon, Second Son of Leah

Who he was

Simeon (שִׁמְעוֹן) is a son of Israel and Leah, a man of the patriarchal age, placed around 1996 BC to 1635 BC on an era reckoning drawn from Ussher's chronology (1650). His birth is recorded at Genesis 29:33, and his name stands second in the list of Israel's sons: "These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun," (1 Chronicles 2:1). His brothers and sister are Reuben, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah, Joseph and Benjamin. One thing must be said at the outset, because it shapes everything that follows: the name Simeon belongs also to a tribe and to a territory, so most of the forty-three verses where it occurs are not about the man at all.

The man in Genesis

The scenes that involve Simeon himself are few and they are all in Genesis. He is born at Genesis 29:33. He appears with a brother at Genesis 34:25 and is named again at Genesis 34:30. He is listed among Leah's sons at Genesis 35:23. He is named at Genesis 42:24 and again at Genesis 42:36, and once more at Genesis 43:23. His sons are recorded at Genesis 46:10, and his name is spoken at Genesis 48:5 and at Genesis 49:5. Those are the references the dossier carries, and their wording is not supplied here; so they are given as references and left for the reader to open rather than retold at second hand. That restraint is itself worth noticing. A great deal of what people think they know about Simeon comes from paraphrase, and the text repays being read directly.

His household is recorded in two forms. At Genesis 46:10 his sons are Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zerah and Shaul, born to a Canaanite woman and to a wife whose name is not given. The Chronicler's list is shorter and partly different: "The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul;" (1 Chronicles 4:24). The same family, counted twice across many generations, does not come out identical on the page, and Scripture lets both lists stand.

A name that becomes a people

After Genesis, Simeon is almost entirely a tribe. The name occurs in Exodus 1:2 and Exodus 6:15, and then repeatedly through Numbers, where the tribe is counted, given a place in the camp, given a leader and an offering, and given a representative: Numbers 1:6, Numbers 2:12, Numbers 7:36, Numbers 10:19, Numbers 13:5, Numbers 25:14, Numbers 26:12, Numbers 26:14 and Numbers 34:20. The first census gives a figure: "Of the children of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, those who were counted of it, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred." (Numbers 1:22-23). The name is called out again at Deuteronomy 27:12.

The inheritance is unusual, and Joshua says why: "This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. Out of the part of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon; for the portion of the children of Judah was too much for them. Therefore the children of Simeon had inheritance in the middle of their inheritance." (Joshua 19:8-9; see also Joshua 19:1, Joshua 21:4, Joshua 21:9). The name appears twice in Judges, at Judges 1:3 and Judges 1:17. The Chronicler records a migration: "Some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to Mount Seir, having for their captains Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi." (1 Chronicles 4:42), and the name recurs at 1 Chronicles 6:65, 1 Chronicles 12:25, 1 Chronicles 27:16, 2 Chronicles 15:9 and 2 Chronicles 34:6. In Ezekiel's vision the name is given a portion and a gate: "By the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon, one portion. By the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar, one portion." (Ezekiel 48:24-25; also Ezekiel 48:33).

Where Scripture does not soften him

Genesis 34:25 and Genesis 34:30 stand in the record, and so does Genesis 49:5, where his father's words name him alongside a brother. These are not neutral genealogical notes; they are the reason the reader should go to those verses rather than accept a summary. Scripture keeps them in the family register and does not remove them.

What we are not told

We are not told the name of either woman who bore his sons; one is identified only as a Canaanite woman, the other not at all. No account of his death is listed among his passages, and no words of his are quoted in the material gathered here.

Where the name finally stands

One New Testament reference is listed: Revelation 7:7. The name Leah gave her second son at Genesis 29:33 is still on the page at the end of the Bible, among the tribes. Whatever Genesis 34 and Genesis 49:5 record against him, God did not strike the name out.